


Catch Me When I Fall (I Promise One Day I'll Learn)

by EternityPrevails



Series: 5+1 Stories [4]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Domestic Fluff, Fainting, Fluff, Heat Stroke, Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, Injury, Neglect, Pre-Slash, Seizures, Self-Destruction, Sick Character, Sickfic, Starvation, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:28:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25882843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternityPrevails/pseuds/EternityPrevails
Summary: After all these years you would think Kaldur would learn to keep himself hydrated on the surface. And you would think wrong.Aka: 5 times Kaldur got sick from dehydration + 1 time he didnt
Relationships: Bart Allen/Jaime Reyes, Dick Grayson/Wally West, Roy Harper/Kaldur'ahm
Series: 5+1 Stories [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1457512
Comments: 20
Kudos: 97





	1. Pre-Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roy - 15  
> Kal - 14

Star City was beautiful, Kaldur could acknowledge that even through his haze of complaints that he was quietly keeping to himself. His king, Arthur, had decided that if Kaldur was going to be his side kick then he needed more exposure to people on the surface. So Arthur had got together with another hero and sidekick pair, Green arrow and speedy, also known as Oliver and Roy, and asked then to give a tour of the surface city to which they happily obliged. Atleast the older one did, the younger seemed only to come for the food.

This was only Kaldurs fourth time in the surface and he was quickly coming to the conclusion that he HATED it. He was wearing a shirt that covered his gills and was painfully uncomfortable, he was sweating which was something he didnt even know he could do, and he was unbearably overheated. He wanted to say something but neither of the surface dweller heros nor his king seemed to be suffering in the heat so Kaldur kept his mouth shut. He didnt want to sound weak infront if these heros he had never met before.

The surface was suffocating, loud, bright, chaotic, and had so many harsh violent smells. The cars scared him, the lights hurt his eyes, and whatever this ilness was that had overcome him was sickening. Oliver walked at a fast paxe that Kaldur struggled to keep up with and he also spoke a lot of things Kaldur did not udnerstand. Still he listened politely to talk of buisnesses and hero work. Luckily Roy, the sidekick, seemed to walk at a more leisure pace that Kaldur could match. The sidekick was a boy maybe a little older than Kaldure. He was a ginger and wore a disinterested expression. He also spoke to his mentor in way that Kaldur could never imagine speaking to his king.

He couldnt think too much about it because he was still overheated and uncomfortable. His skin felt dry and itchy, his mouth felt dry, and his chest was begining to feel tight. On multiple occasions he had to remind himself to breath through his nose, not his gills.

After about thirty more minutes of walking Kaldur was hoping they would soon be able to go back to Atlantis. He didnt want to be on the surface anymore. His vision was blurring weirdly and he found himself breathing heavily. He was now struggling to even keep up with Roys leisurly pace and the ginger must have noticed because he stopped. 

He sat a hand on Kaldurs shoulder and his skin felt weirdly cool against his. "Are you okay?" The boy asked but it sounded like he was talking from miles away. It was wierd. Kaldur had never experienced anything like this before and it made him confused and scared. His chest felt tight and he felt like he was gasping to breath. He wanted to answer but he couldnt form the words and the older two heros were still walkign seemed to not notice the younger men hanging behind.

"I..." he tried to think of words but couldnt get his brain to work. He squeezed his eyes closed tight grabbing onto the other sidekicks arm to try and keep his balance. He had now completely stopped walking. "It...is hot" he put his hand up to his chest pulling at the shirt lightly unable to get the words out. "I cant" he was terrified and didnt know what was happening. He had never experienced anything like this before. Suddenly he got a massive wave of dizziness and his vision went balck. He could feel his knees give out and him fall into someone.

He could hear Roy call for the mentors and a little bit of commotion following but then he passed out completely. 

* * *

Kaldur woke up to the feeling of something cold on his lips. As soon as he woke up enough to recognize what was going on he drunk greedily, it was ice cold salt water. He whined as it moved away from his lips, he wanted more. He felt awful and thirtsy and still couldnt breath. "Kaldur'ahm, look at me" he heard his kings voice and weakly opened his eyes looking around. 

"My king" he muttered struggling to breath. He couldnt figure out where he was, they were no longer outside but they also didnt seem to be in a building. His shirt was removed and he was laying down with his head on someones legs. He closed his eyes again confused. "I cant.." he brought his hand to his through scratching at his already irritated gills. "Cant...breath " he was gasping between every word. He felt some of the cold salt water get poured over his throat and it helped a little bit he still felt like he couldn't breath. "My king, i cant" he tried ti remeber how ti breath with his lungs but he wanted nithing more than ti be back in the water. 

He felt nails scratch softly over his short hair and it was relaxing. "What is wrong with him?" The voice belonged to the other sidekick, Roy. He must be the one Kaldur was laying on. If he had been panicking less he would have been embarrassed but right now he was terrified and didnt understand what was happening.

"He's never been out of the water for so long. He must be dehydrated" he heard his kings voice and some more water poured over his throat before being put back on his lips. He drunk greedily again but still struggled to breath, his head felt like it was spinning.

He suddenly felt very nauseous "water" he groaned feeling like he would throw up.

"Then do something about it, dont just watch him struggle he's in pain!" While Kaldur would usually be disapproving of someone talking to his king that way he agreed with Roy. He was in pain and breathing hurt and he was scared. He felt himself get picked up and the scratchy shirt put back over his gills then they walked back out into the heat from whereever they were hiding. 

Kaldur felt more exhausted by the minute but he could easily recognize the sound of the zeta tubes turning on. He heard some goodbyes being said and then the feeling of being teleported, which was something he was not used to and make his stomach turn. But once they were on the other side he felt water surrounding him. He felt himself get set down again and then someone tapping on his face. 

"My king?" He groaned opening his eyes. Now that they were back in Atlantis he was quickly feeling better. "I am sorry, i dont know what happened" he finally found the strength the open his eyes the entire way. Arthur didnt look angry, instead he smiled.

"Thats okay my son, the surface is hot and dehydrating. You need to be careful, but dont worry too much on it. The same thing happened to me my first few times on the surface.


	2. S1 E9 - Bereft

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roy: 17  
> Kal: 16

Kaldur didn't feel good, actually, he felt awful and terribly weak. They had just returned to the mountain after the failure that was the Beferet mission where they had gotten psychically attacked and ended up spending over 48 hours in the desert with no shelter or water. Kaldur didn't really remember much except for being really confused after the attack. Then he remembered sitting down in the shade behind a large boulder because he was getting too overheated. The next thing he knew he was on the Bioship hooked up to IV fluids. That was about two hours ago, he had apparently gone through three bags to just wake up and two more before he was coherent enough to understand what had happened.

He wished they had more but that was all that was on the bioship and for a regular person would have been enough to last for multiple days. But for Kaldur, and with how dehydrated he was that really wasn't anywhere near enough. Though he wouldn't say that to the team. Him complaining wouldn't change the fact they there simply wasn't anymore. Now he just wanted to go lay down in the pool. His skin felt uncomfortably dry, his lips were cracked, and his mouth was so dry it tasted like blood. Even with how much they had given him he still felt dizzy and confused. He felt like he might throw up or pass out again but he didn't want to show that much weakness to the team. He was their leader after all.

"What happened?" Batman was standing in the conference room alongside the other mentors and, much to his surprise, Roy as the team came back in. Of course, he would be they were over a day later than they should have been and even though Robin messaged him in the bioship he hadn't been able to give the full explanation. Kaldur knew he should speak since he was the team leader but his head was spinning and it took all of his focus to just stand up straight without wavering. He wasn't going to be able to stay here much longer.

DIck must have noticed his predicament and taken charge because suddenly he and Wally were both explaining the situation in excruciating detail. Kaldur tried to focus on the conversation and the mentors that were waiting but he couldn't. His mentor also wasn't here, for that he was grateful. He could only imagine how much his king would fussing over him if he knew what had happened. The conversation felt like it took hours and the bright fluorescent light felt like it was beating down on him.

It took all his military and hero training to remain on his feet without wavering but that also meant that his attention was divided. "KALDUR!" Batman started him and he looked up quickly, a bad idea because it just added to nausea and dizziness. "Is there anything you would like to add to the mission report?" The mission report? He had barely heard anything that Robin or Kid Flash had even said, his ears were ringing too loudly. He must have been taking too long to answer. "Were you listening as your team gave the report?" All eyes were on him now and he wondered if they could tell how bad he felt.

"My apologize Batman" he tried to keep his words solid but he could hear his voice shaking "I seem to be very disoriented from the heat"

He heard a small unhappy noise from the older man but then a declaration that everyone needed to go home and they would talk about this tomorrow. Sidekicks and Mentors all started leaving till Kaldur was the only young hero left in the room. Well except for Roy who was watching him from the wall. Kaldurs skin felt painfully dry and his gills felt like they had sand in them. He didn't even try to play politely with the older man and instead just turned away walking toward the moon pool at the bottom of the cave. He heard Roy following him from a fair distance behind but he couldn't even care, he felt awful.

After a few more seconds of walking, he was hit with a large wave of dizziness and he stumbled hitting the ground on his knees. He put a single hand on the wall trying to keep himself from collapsing forward. His vision was patching in and out. He suddenly felt a hand touch his face bringing his chin up, Roy was crouched down in front of him looking very concerned. "Are you okay, Do I need to call Aquaman?"

The very idea of him calling Aquaman made Kaldurs stomach turn, he didn't need to bother his king with something as trivial as dehydration. Even though he logically knew dehydration wasn't really a trivial matter for Atlantians. 95% of Atlantian deaths on the surface were from dehydration and heat exposure and most of them hadn't spent almost 2 full days in the desert without water. Not to mention the face that Kaldurs gills made him even more susceptible to dehydration than a human-passing Atlantian such as the king. 

"NO!" He hadn't intended to sound so harsh but he felt like he was dying. His chest was painfully tight and all the sand grains in his gills felt like needles digging into his skin. "I... just... need... to... get... to... the... pool" He felt like he was gasping between each word and his entire world was still spinning. He could feel his whole nobody trembling as he tried to work but up the strength and courage to get off the floor. He felt an arm wrap around him. 

"Okay let me help" Roy offered and Kaldur was too weak to argue with him. He let Roy help him up and he would have immediately collapsed again if it weren't for Roy holding him. He was grateful for the ginger and that nobody else was there to witness his weakness. The pool wasn't very far and usually would have taken Kaldur only a moment to get to but in his weakened state it took several long minutes and Kaldur was leaning on Roy heavily the entire time. Once they got to the pool at the bottom floor of the mountain Roy helped him sit down and Kaldur immediately pushed himself in submerging and sinking to the bottom of the pool. 

Breathing through his gills hurt because of all the micro-cuts from the sand against the sensitive skin. Also, the webbing between his hands was also covered in micro-cuts from the sand so swimming was incredibly painful. He kept underwater for a long time, at least thirty minutes. This moonpool was actually just a small pool at the bottom of the cave connected straight to the ocean. So he just relaxed at the bottom and let himself breath the water and absorb the salt through his skin and gills. After he began to feel less like passing out and more like his normal self he slowly resurfaced. 

He was surprised to find that Roy was sitting at the edge of the pool with his bare feet in the water. Kaldur was now feeling guilty about staying down for so long, he had truly thought Roy would leave once he helped Kaldur get here. "I did not have the expectation of you to stay," He said, he still wasn't feeling great but he was feeling significantly better now that he was surrounded by water. 

"I don't think you had any expectations. After you tripped you were shaking so bad I thought you were gonna have a seizure" Roy brushed a piece of his hair out of his face and smiled softly. Kaldur felt the guilt boil in his stomach. 

"I am sorry"

"Don't, it wasn't your fault. I really don't know what the Bat Brained idiot was thinking sending an Atlantian into the fucking desert" Roy growled out bitterly. Kaldur didn't have the energy to argue with Roy, and this was one of the occasions he actually agreed with him. Kaldur had no business in that desert, for any amount of time. It was a dangerous and reckless risk on his health made by Batman. 

Kaldur didn't look how concerned Roy was looking and he decided that he needed to do something to cheer up his friend. He still wasn't feeling great and would most likely spend the night either down here or back in Atlantis. He honestly didn't think it would be in the best interest of his health for his to leave. So he swam up to the edge was Roy was sitting and propped himself up on this elbows. "Thank you for your help today, my friend" Kaldur smiled mischievously having a plan for how to wipe the worried look off of Roy's face. 

He put one of his webbed hands up to Roy's chin smiling softly before pushing himself up for a quick kiss. The two of them had been dating for about the past month since a little before the team had formed and nobody had found out yet. As soon as he felt Roy kiss back he wrapped his arms around Roy's waist and pulled both of them back into the cold water. He heard a started yelp from his boyfriend and laughed as Roy looked so insulted. "Stay with me" Kaldur spoke. Partially because he enjoyed Roy's company but also because he still wasn't feeling good and wasn't convinced yet that the worst had passed. 


	3. S1 E12 - Homefront

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roy - 17  
> Kal - 16
> 
> So for anyone who doesn't remember in this episode, there is an attack on the mountain and Both Kaldur and M'gann get trapped and surrounded by fire causing M'gann to faint.

Everyone was paying attention to M'gann, good they needed to pay attention to her she had fainted. Kaldur had managed to stay conscious the entire time they were surrounded by fire and he had managed to protect M'gann who had fainted fairly early on. But protecting M'gann had resulted in him getting multiple burns. Nobody was paying attention to his injuries, nobody was paying attention to him. Just M'gann, she was the one who fainted, she was the one who needed medical attention. Not him, he was fine. 

At least that's what he had been telling himself this entire time, and the entire time they had been surrounded by the fire he kept telling himself he was fine. He was fine, he was fine, he was fine. When in actuality the last thing he was, was fine. He was terrified, he was traumatized, he was dizzy, and he felt sick. The burns on his skin hurt and he wanted to cry. He was envious of M'gann, she passed out at the beginning. She didn't have to watch the fire close in on them, she didn't have to feel the air around them heating up and burning away till it hurt to breathe in hot smoke-filled oxygen, she didn't have to feel the fire lap out and burn her skin because Kaldur protected her from the flames. Kaldur had thought he was going to die. He had felt the fire lap up at his gills, and the webbing between his fingers and toes. 

But that didn't matter now, now he was here. He didn't die, he needed to turn his attention to his team. But he was struggling to get the images of flames out of his head. His attention was locked on the spot where they had sat and looked at the singed floor surrounding the spot in every direction. The walls of flames had been so high and so hot it had even dried up the water that he had so he couldn't do anything to try to keep the two of them cool. 

A hand touched his shoulders and he jerked away slapping the hand only to realize with horror that it was his boyfriend. "Roy, I'm sorry, I thought..." he stopped mid-sentence feeling dizzy and sick. every part of his body was in pain. He put a hand up to his head feeling like he was going to faint. He hadn't felt it before because of how much adrenaline he had racing through him but now that the adrenaline was fading he was feeling just now much pain he was actually in. 

His skin was screaming and all the burns were excruciating. His mouth and gills tasted like blood, his lips had split under the heat leaving them severely cracked and his skin felt even dryer and more dehydrated than the time he was in the desert. and his mind felt like a scratched record that keeps jumping and lagging so having a fully coherent thought was difficult for him. If Roy had said something Kaldur didn't hear it and he must have been starring into space because Roy grabbed his face softly forcing him to look away from the spot. 

"Are You Okay?" Roy spoke clearly but Kaldur felt like he couldn't remember how to answer. 

"M'gann" He muttered, she had passed out. They needed to be taking care of her. Kaldur was fine. Just tired and hot. 

"She's fine, she woke up and they took her to the med bay. Now, are you okay?" Roy was looking at him intently and Kaldur felt like he was three shades removed. The heat had fried his brain because he couldn't form coherent thoughts to save his life. He had to keep reminding himself to breath because his body kept forgetting to breathe without him forcing it. He felt sick and dizzy. He could see the expression on Roy's face and it looked concerned but for some reason, he was really struggling to figure out why. "Maybe we should get you into the water" Roy muttered and that was one word that clicked in his brain instantly. 

"Water" he repeated and got a small nod from Roy who took his hand. Kaldur instantly jerked his hand back hissing at the pain of Roy touching the webbing between his hands. The sudden reaction seemed to trigger a million things happening all once. The movement had caused all the burns on his skin to scream out at once, he got hit by a large wave of dizziness, his skin felt unbearably dry and uncomfortable, and his lungs felt like they weren't working properly. He was suddenly hit with a very weird wave of sensations and his vision went black and he felt himself collapse. 

* * *

Kaldur woke up laying on his side on the floor with his head resting on someone's lap. Before he could even think he started gagging and throwing up. he felt short nails run against his hair and he could recognize Roys voice whispering softly even though he couldn't really make out what it was that he was saying. He was scared, he had no idea what was going on. His vision was hazy, his brain felt like it was covered in a thick fog, and he felt so unbearably hot. He could feel his body twitch and jerk randomly and he felt like he was completely out of control. 

"He's going to have another seizure" He heard someone say but he couldn't recognize the voice. He had a seizure? Was that why he felt so awful? Before anybody could even respond Kaldur felt another weird wave of sensations and his eyes rolled back. This time he didn't pass out completely, he could feel his body jerking but felt so out of control and confused. He felt the wave of sensations leave again and he settled down feeling worse than before. 

His whole body felt like it was on fire and he struggling to breathe. He tried to focus on saying something but all he managed was gasping. "Hot" he dug his head back against Roys legs whimpering and hitting the floor with little to no strength "fire" He knew he was being incoherent but he wasn't sure what to do, he couldn't think and he was in too much pain to do anything on his own. 

"Shh, it's okay, you're okay" Roy's words were very little comfort and he didn't feel okay. He felt like he was dying, was this because of the fire. He felt himself faint again only to be woken up by the sound of Roy's voice and the feeling of being shaken. "Come on Kal, breath for me please" 

Breath? Kaldur knew how to breathe but it hurt so much. It felt like his lungs were burning, it felt like every part of him was burning. he felt like he was back in the fire.

"Take him to the medbay"

"NO, take him to the pool. He's Atlantian he needs water, he's just as sensitive to the heat as the Martian girl" Roy again. Kaldur wanted to agree but it took all of his energy to keep himself breathing. He felt movement around him and yelled out in pain and someone picked him up before once again blacking out. 

* * *

The next time Kaldur woke up he still felt hazy and confused but at least his skin didn't feel like it was on fire anymore. He was in the water and all the burns across his body were covered in waterproof bandages. He slowly opened his eyes looking around. He was in the pool at the bottom of the mountain and there was nobody else there except Roy who was laying on the ground beside the pool

"Roy" he muttered then immediatly goaned softly cause he throat felt like knifes. Roy sat up quickly 

"Kal. Youre awake thank god!" Roys face looked red and puffy and Kaldur wished he could remeber what happened. There was the fire, M'gann passed put, the fire was put out, Kaldur passed out. That was the last thing he remebered, fainting against Roy. Kaldur slowly swam over the the edge. 

"What happened?" He muttered, he felt like death. 

"You were acting all spacy and confused after the fire. I thought maybe you were just dehydrated so I tried to bring you to the water but you fainted and started having seizures" Roy wiped a few tears off of his face and Kaldur felt guilty. "You stopped breathing, I thought you were gonna" he broke off his sentence "you stabilized once you were in the water. Ive been waiting for you to wake up"

Kaldur felt guilty. He didnt remeber anything after passing out the first time. "How long have you been here?" He mumbled

"6 or 7 hours" Roy rubbed his eyeswiping away any more tears he had and Kaldur frowned. 

"Come here" Kaldur whispered, talking too loud hurt his throat. Roy came to the edge of the water and Kaldur propped himself up shakily kissing his boyfriend "im oaky, dont worry."


	4. Chapter 4

This time it wasn't his fault. This time he knew he was dehydrated and that he needed some water but everyone else was distracting him. There had been training that he woke up late and had to rush to be on time. Then after training, he reluctantly got dragged into a meeting with batman which took forever. After that finally ended he was trying to leave when Black Canary wanted to talk to him about the team. And Of course out of all the times for an urgent mission to occur it happened right as Kaldur was finishing up his and Canarys conversation. The mission briefing, the mission itself, and the mission report took up the majority of the afternoon. And by the time Kaldur finally got a second to sit he could already begin to feel the symptoms of severe dehydration kicking in. 

He went to his room laying grabbing a water bottle out if the mini-fridge and laying down on his bed taking small sips. He hated days like this, honestly, they never got easier. He got used to them, days where he couldn't access water for 12 plus hours at a time but they never got easier. They always left him feeling sick and dizzy. He was Atlantian, he wasn't supposed to go for more than 2 or 3 hours without water.

He closed his eyes and took a few more sips if the saltwater trying to will the nausea away. And drinking bottled water like the surface dwellers really didn't do much for him because in the ocean he absorbed a ton of salt through his skin. Enough salt to kill a human. So if he was drinking land-dweller water it lacked the salt he needed to function. Meaning that even with it he ended up sick. The water he had in his room was specifically high concentration saltwater that was closer to the salinity of the deep ocean where he was from. His king gave it to him. There was a soft knock on his door and Kaldur just tried to stay silent hoping that whoever was there would assume he was asleep and just leave. It wasn't something he liked to do often but right now he was exhausted and was pretty sure if he got up he might faint. 

After a minute he heard the passcode to his door being typed in and the door cracked open. He didn't even bother looking at the door, he knew exactly who it was. The only person that had his door pin. "Hey Kal" Roys voice was soft after he shut the door locking it again. Kaldur make a small noise of acknowledgement and took another drink rolling onto his side. Instead of getting better nausea had just gotten worse. He knew it was a balancing act, he needed to hydrate and get salt but if he did it too quickly after being dehydrated all day he could make himself even sicker. Roy padded over quietly and laid down beside Kaldur who simply curled up into his arms. 

Roys skin was cool and felt good against Kaldurs overheated body. "I do not feel good" Kaldur admitted quietly while burying his face into Roy's chest. He didn't like admitting weakness, but with Roy it was different. Roy was his boyfriend and they had been together for a while now so showing weakness to Roy wasn't too much of a concern. 

"you feel really warm. How long did you go without water today?" Roy asked running his nails softly in circles on Kaldurs back. 

Kaldur tried to think about it. He had woke up at 5:00 am this morning and right now it was 6:00 pm "13 hours" he muttered "I kept trying to go get water but the team needed me" he took another small drink. 

Roy made an annoying sound that Kaldur was more than familiar with "you can't be there for the team if you pass out from dehydration" 

Kaldur knew he was right and really wasn't in the mood to argue. He closed his eyes curling more into Roy trying to ease his rebelling stomach. He felt like he was going to throw up which he really didn't want to do because it would only make the problem worse by farther throwing off his electrolytes and make him more dehydrated. They laid in silence for a while and Kaldurs stomach just became more and more upset and each time he tried to drink some water to quell it he only made the problem worse. This was a very common problem with Atlantians who allowed themselves to become dehydrated, reintroducing water and salt always had a chance to set off something called nicknamed Surface sickness which usually only lasted for a few hours but could quickly become dangerous. Kaldur had gotten it before, the very first time Kaldur had met Roy and the first time he had ever passed out from dehydration, and had to go back to Atlantis because he was really sick. Now he was terrified of getting sick again. 

Kaldur sat up pressing the base of his hand to his mouth and trying to breathe. "Are you okay" Roy put a hand on Kaldurs lap and Kaldur flinched away. 

"no" he muttered through clenched teeth, "I think I'm going to throw up" As soon as he said it a huge wave of nausea washed over him and he practically ran to the bathroom and began to throw up. It all hurt, every part of him hurt and he was dizzy and confused. His brain felt foggy and weird. He was beginning to panic because he didn't want to be sick again. He was terrified of getting sick again. Roy walked in a few minutes later and Kaldur was crumpled up into himself with his head resting on the edge of the toilet seat. 

Roy offered him a bottle of water and Kaldur gratefully took a drink but his body almost immediately rejected it ad he was back over the toilet throwing up. When he was finished again Roy rubbed his back "how about we get you back to bed?"

Kaldur just nodded not really having the energy to do much more, he needed to drink water but he was too nauseous. He let Roy him up and back to bed. he was partially panicking because he knew if he couldn't drink water he was going to get more dehydrated and this could become so much worse. Roy leaned over him and kissed his forehead "I'll be right back" He spoke softly. Kaldur just nodded not really sure where Roy was going or why he was leaving him alone. 

After a few minutes, Roy came back to the room and Kaldur was still laying down trying to will the awful feelings away. "Hey Kal" Roy tapped the edge of Kaldurs face and he looked up at the redhead who was holding a saline bag that was marked with an A (a special saline solution specifically concentrated for Atlantians). Kaldur was grateful, this way he could get fluids and wouldn't throw them all up. He let Roy set up the IV and laid back down to next to Kaldur who just curled up into him and just tried to relax. He really needed to make a point to get water throughout the day, he should have just asked someone to wait but he was bad at putting himself first, he always had been. He knew that Roy would probably give him a lecture once he was feeling better but right now he just wanted to sleep in his boyfriends arms. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roy: 18  
> Kal: 17

Kaldur didn't know where he was or what had happened, the last thing he remembered was the mission. The mission had gone bad, an alarm was set off and one of the guards was a meta that none of them had know about or been prepared for. He had been ordering the team to retreat. The risk, in this case, was not worth the reward and they could come back later with a better plan. Then he remembered someone calling his name and a sharp pain before his vision went black. Now he was here, wherever here was exactly. 

It was like a dark Wearhouse looking area, he had been stripped of his weapons and his water. He was tied up and lying on the dirty floor with the worse headache he had ever had. His whole body hurt. He wasn't sure where he was, or how long he had been there. All he knew is that it was very very dry and hot and he was very very thirsty. His vision kept blurring and getting confused, he couldn't keep a solid train of thought, he was too weak to move and he could feel the ropes cutting into his skin. 

He forced himself to roll over onto his back hoping that it would help his breathing which felt tight and constricted. It was easily a hundred degrees in the warehouse where he was stored. His gills felt dry and the webbing between his fingers was dry and cracked. The cement ground under him had left burns on any exposed skin and he hoped that someone would find him soon because he couldn't last much longer out here int he heat. how long had he been out here anyway?

He couldn't really tell, he remembered waking up on and off but had that been over the course of a few minutes? Hours? Days? he wasn't sure. Guessing by how awful and dehydrated he felt he was guessing it was closer to days. He would have felt scared but he was too disoriented to feel anything right now other than thirsty and dry. 

His heart felt like it was beating out of his chest and no matter how hard he felt like he couldnt catch his breath. 

Kaldur heard small whispering voices around him but when he opened his eyes there was nobody around him and opening his eyes made the world around him spin so he closed them again, he was hallucinating. Auditory hallucinations were a bad sign because next came seizures (which he may or may not have been having already, he was too disoriented to tell), then visual hallucinations, coma, organ failure, and death. 

He didnt remeber passing back out but he woke up on his side with the taste of vomit in his mouth. He gasped unable to breath, he felt his gills flutter in a desperate search for water but there was none. Kaldur was terrified, he was going to die here. He was going to die in pain and suffering in this filthy warehouse alone and scared. 

He wanted to get up and try to get out hit he was too weak to move, he had been ever since he first woke up here. He heard a loud crash and didnt bother opening his eyes. It was either another hallucination or it was the villians come back to finish him. Either way he didnt want to see whatever was happening. He felt cool hands on him and he groaned softly, they were the first thing he felt in a while that didnt feel like fire against his skin. 

"Kaldur?" He felt a soft tapping on the side of his face. He opened his eyes weakly looking at thw source of the voice. His vision was too blurry to see anything other than a red and black blob. He wanted to say or do something but he just closed his eyes again too weak to even think. Was this even real or a hallucination?

He felt somone cut the ropes that were on his arms and legs, pull him into their lap, and place something cold against his lips. This definitely wasnt a hallucination it was a water bottle. He drunk weakly but his body almost immediately rejected it and he gagged throwing up onto his savior. If he had been more conscious he would have been embarrased or apologetic but now he was just dizzy and confused and in pain. Throwing up made his already tight feeling chest even worse and he gasped for breath desperate for air that he felt like he wasnt getting. 

He heard people around him talking and he couldnt understand what they were saying but the voices made him feel safer. He curled up closed to the cool skin of the person holding him wanting to escape the heat and fainted again. 

When he woke up next he was lying on his back but this time on something cool and soft. He had a breathing mask on, could feel and IV in his arm, and could feel ice packs and bandages on his body. Every part of him was screaming out in pain and while he felt less hot he still felt so unbearably dehydrated. He could also feel someone lying next to him. He cracked his eyes opened looking ariund as best he could without moving. They were in the bioship and Roy was lying beside him. 

Roy must have noticed him wake up because he brushed his hand over Kaldurs cheek. "You should be resting" he whispered

"Hurts" that was the only work Kaldur could get to come out. Rou frowned and reached over clicking something on the IV line.

"That should help" he whispered softly and kissed Kaldurs forhead. Very quickly he felt a wave of dizzy sleepiness overtake him and he closed his eyes again trusting Roy to take care of everything. Roy would protect him, he always did.

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE COMMENT


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